Useful Notes / George W. Bush

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"We must stop the terror. I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now watch this drive."

"I'm the decider."

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. As President, he succeeded Bill Clinton, and was succeeded by Barack Obama.

The son of former President George Herbert Walker Bush, he was an owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election, prior to reaching the White House. Famous for his frequent malapropisms (known as Bushisms), such as "I know how hard it is to put food on your family". Ushered in a veritable golden age of political satire in America. Also "starred" in not one, but twositcoms (That's My Bush! and Lil' Bush, both on Comedy Central), which pushed satirical boundaries in doing so.

Got elected by a very narrow margin (leaving him as only the fourth person to be elected president despite not securing the highest number of votes) and the first to do so since Benjamin Harrison in 1888 (112 years prior), complete with controversy and demands for recounts; won his second election more traditionally with far less controversy (although there were several disputes over voter fraud/voter disenfranchisement). A brief policy overview: President during the September 11 terrorist attacks, ordered the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan and achieved highest recorded approval ratings in the aftermath; decided to invade and occupy Iraq on grounds that proved dubious at best, the length and cost of the occupation resulted in historic low approval ratings as his second term drew to a close; invested in AIDS awareness programs in Africa, and the fledgling science of nanotechnology; signed the US out of the Kyoto accords; promoted the No Child Left Behind Act; signed the PATRIOT Act into law; oversaw tax cuts for the rich and bailoutsnote And yes, "bailout" is the technical term. It's occasionally confused with "stimulus"; however, that term refers to the Keynesian policy of "priming the pump": increasing government spending or loosening the money supply to get money flowing and jump start a failing economy. While monetary stimulus—loosening the money supply—was applied during the Bush Administration, that is at the discretion of the Federal Reserve, not the President or Congress; fiscal stimulus—increasing government spending—was discussed under Bush, but it was deemed to be politically necessary to leave that to his successor (whether that was John Mc Cain or Barack Obama), as Bush by this point was a highly unpopular lame duck. for the big banks. Some editors would probably have some triumphant line of argument to add here in support or opposition of any of those, but they should know better.

Helped popularize the phrase, "I'm <Your Name here>, and I approve this message.", which is now standard operating procedure for political ads on TV, usually as an alternative to the "Paid for by..." voiceover.

In 2015, his brother John Ellis "Jeb" Bush ran for the Republican presidential nomination and was highly expected to become their 2016 nominee. However, he got overshadowed by Donald Trump, suspending his campaign in February 2016 after a disappointing finish in the South Carolina primaries.

Tropes associated with George W. Bush (and his cabinet) in media and portrayals in fiction:

Enigmatic Minion: Sometimes Condoleezza Rice gets portrayed as this trope, depending on how she gets interpreted.

Everything Is Big in Texas: Portrayals of him, if referencing his upbringing, have him being very proud of being a Texan. Although if it matters, he was technically born in Connecticut.

Genius Ditz: He did graduate Yale and is the only President to have an MBA from Harvard Business school. It was once observed that his GPA at Yale was roughly equal to Al Gore's at Harvard (and he actually got better grades than John Kerry, who was more commonly depicted as The Smart Guy Bush ran for re-election against Kerry), but certain famous misspeakings of his got him frequently lampooned as an idiot.

GIS Syndrome: Some art critics have pointed out that Bush's series of amateur portraits of world leaders, on display at his presidential library, bear a striking resemblance to pictures that appear on the first page of Google Images results for their names.

Malaproper: Multiple statements by him, contributing to his image as The Ditz. Bush became famous for his sometimes odd verbal gaffes, dubbed "Bushisms". Some of them, however, are particularly notable - not just mispeaking similar words, but combining elements from separate words.

The Napoleon: Portrayals of him often get into this, even though he's a little taller than the average American. The portrayal stems from some of his tics, as well as facing the even-taller John Kerry in the 2004 election.

Cooter: Cooter Burger? What am I, a cartoon dog? The president gave me that name! "Cooter" because I look like a turtle and "Burger" because he saw me eating a burger one time! It wasn't even a burger... it was a sandwich.

Not So Different: His two successful presidential campaigns often tried to paint him as a down-to-Earth everyman compared to his opponents Al Gore and John Kerry, who were often characterized as out-of-touch intellectual elites. In fact, Bush was just as educated as his Democratic rivals (if not more so), being a Yale alumnus and a graduate of Harvard Business School.

Only in Florida: The chaos surrounding his runoff with Al Gore was the largest example and tends to be referenced in media. How I Met Your Mother had a Running Gag of Ted dressing for Halloween as a "hanging chad," and the recount was dramatized in the film Recount.

The Teetotaler: During his presidency, a common joke among his supporters was that he seemed like the kind of guy that they would enjoy "having a beer" with. The irony, of course, was that Bush was an admitted recovering alcoholic, and had long since given up alcohol by the time he went into politics.

The Unfavorite: The Oliver Stone movie W. interprets that he was this while his brother Jeb was the one his parents had high expectations for.

"Well Done, Son!" Guy: According to the movie W. by Oliver Stone, it is often perceived his brother Jeb was the one his father expected to get higher office. In one of Jr.'s nightmares, Dream!Poppy says, "A hundred years it took to build up the Bush name and you single-handedly destroyed it!"

You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!: During the debates with Al Gore, Gore (who is taller and more -cough- stoutly built than Bush) was obviously trying to stand close to Bush and loom over him in an attempt to appear more commanding. The contemptuous look that Bush gave Gore clearly took the wind out of him, and also caused Gore's strategy to backfire since it quickly became apparent what Gore was trying to do.

He also make an appearance in Marvel's Ultimates line. He asks Captain America if 21 century was "Cool or Uncool?", later, Air Force One is highjacked by supervillains, and the last thing he's seen saying is the name of his wife.

In the same vein, he's seen making the presentation in the Marvel's Squadron Supreme.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, despite being highly critical of Homeland Security, portrayed Bush in a rather neutral (even slightly positive) light. Basically, as much of a layabout Stoner as the two main characters who lives in his father's shadow and is controlled by Cheney.

Transformers (2007) Although his face wasn't seen, he was portrayed lying down in his bed on Air Force One asking a stewardess for Ding Dongs. A character at one point notes that the whole incident could decide his presidency. Which means in movieland, George W. Bush brought us the Autobots ate snack cakes while the Decepticons attacked.

Seen and heard all over the place in Recount, a dramatization of the infamous Florida Recount of 2000, along with Al Gore. The two are portrayed (with great restraint) by voice-actors and body doubles until the very end, when their victory/concession speeches are played.

In the 2006 MockumentaryDeath Of A President, George W. Bush is assassinated and Dick Cheney assumes the vacant office. The film was pretty controversial, with the White House spokesperson notably refusing to comment on the film.

That's My Bush!, a sitcom parody by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Incidentally, they had planned on doing a show on the new President prior to the outcome of the 2000 election, with the alternative being Everybody Loves Al.

Ferrell was also the first W. Bush portrayer on Saturday Night Live, and probably the one who left the greatest impression on the public. Dubya has also been played on the show by Chris Parnell, Darrell Hammond, Will Forte, and Jason Sudeikis, at varying levels of success. Bush was, especially during the Ferrell years, portrayed as a lovably clueless yokel ("We're coming for you, bin Laden. I'm gonna make you my own personal Where's Waldo?. And unlike those frustrating Waldo books, I'm gonna find you.") with Dick Cheney (always played by Darrell Hammond) portrayed as an Evil Chancellor. Just imagine Bush and Cheney as the Sultan and Jafar from Aladdin. In the post-Ferrell years, Bush occasionally became a bit more sleazy if a sketch called for it. Incidentally, "strategery" was said by Ferrell's SNL parody of Bush rather than the real Bush.

Dead Ringers, 2DTV and The Impressionable Jon Culshaw, here grouped together because the portrayals were done by the same people and were very similar, portraying Bush as a malapropism-prone ("My Fellow Armadillos...") warmongering idiot who loved Sesame Street and was surrounded by hapless advisors having to explain things to him with sock puppets. The satire was, however, rather undermined by the fact that they kept reusing the same 'President Idiot' jokes from Spitting Image (then aimed at Ronald Reagan and Dan Quayle) which if anything only evoked nostalgia in a lot of the British audience.

The premier episode of NCIS featured clips of Bush regularly, including a scene taking place at a speech where he only appears on the video screens and one where he boards Air Force One. The scene immediately following shows a very convincing imposter, only shown from behind, greeting some of his security personnel on the aircraft.

Shown (among other famous people) as exemplars of facial readings on Lie to Me.

The short-lived This Just In had an episode where the conservative main character's one-liners were eerily restated in some of Bush's speeches. In a vast departure from other humor concerning George W., they made fun "with" rather than "of". In the episode in question, the President turned out to not only be an excellent pilot and very intelligent, but spoken in a British-style accent ("I went to Yale, for God's sake!"). Turns out his mispronounciations and other quirks the media/internet constantly berated him for were an act.

Frequently mentioned in Treme, which makes sense, seeing as how it's set in post-Katrina New Orleans. Mostly from Creighton and Davis, the mot political characters. He's also the subject of Davis' song "Shame, Shame, Shame [on you now, Dubya]."

Music

Eminem's song "Mosh" was during the 2004 election, with a direct address to 'Mr. President! Mr. Senator!' at the end. Throughout the song, Mr. Mathers suggests he respectfully disagrees with the President's ideas.

Some also accused the video of featuring a soldier leaving a photo of Bush with a knife in his head. Someone didn't do the research; it's at 2:52, and the knife is holding the photo on the wall, and not actually in Bush's head.

Loudness directed at least two Protest Song s at him, "Misleading Man" and "Unknown Civilians" from their album Racing, and referred to him obliquely in "The Candidate" on Pandemonium.

British pop duo Pet Shop Boys did a satirical love song portraying Tony Blair and George W. Bush as lovers, entitled "I'm with stupid."

Mentioned in the song "Only For Now" in Avenue Q, a rare instance of the performers expecting/encouraging a song to be interrupted (by laughter and applause); it was well-received enough that, after he left office, a contest was held for a new line, and the change was "George Bush was only for now." At least one production has replaced his name with the line "GLENN BECK! is only for now!"

Video Games

According to the lore of Assassin's Creed, Bush was backed by the Templars while Gore was backed by the Assassins during the 2000 elections.

The Flash game Bush Shoot-Out depicts Bush as a gun-toting badass who single-handedly shoots his way out of the White House after it gets attacked by terrorists.

Ozy and Millie. Llewellyn runs against him in 2000 and 2004; the 2000 strips mock the shouting around that campaign (and provide artist Dana Simpson with some Old Shame). Shortly after 2000, Millie vents her feelings with a 'Mister W' sock puppet, including at one point bashing it with a ruler while disagreeing with No Child Left Behind, in a quickly-apparent short-sighted protest.

In A Girl and Her Fed, W. serves as the Clippy-esque avatar for a neural implant chip. Word of God claims that this isn't a reflection on his presidency per se, but that the author just liked the nickname "Bitty Bush".

South Park, though often political in nature, is well known for almost never attacking politicians directly (or at the very least portraying them as just as bufoonish as all the other adults on the show). Bush and his cabinet were revealed in one episode to be eminently crafty, as they were the ones who created the 9/11 Truth movement — they wanted people to think that the government was all-seeing and all-powerful rather than inept. In other words, 9/11 wasn't a U.S. government conspiracy, but the 9/11 conspiracy theory was.

Indeed, Matt and Trey said they were "tired" of everybody else portraying him as a buffoon, so they opted to make him a Reasonable Authority Figure instead. The first few times he appeared, he was voiced by and looked like the actor who played him in That's My Bush!, which was also produced by Trey and Matt (his negihbor even made a brief cameo). He was eventually given a new, closer-to-real-life appearance later on. (And the episode focusing on the 2008 election, "About Last Night", had him completely absent; they originally planned to have him take the fall for the theft of the Hope Diamond a la The Dark Knight, but they dropped that as they felt that Bush jokes were overdone.)

Oddly averted by The Simpsons. The same show that portrayed Homer getting into a fistfight with Bush Sr. never featured any "appearances" by Dubya throughout his entire presidency. Note that every other president who was alive from the time the show began has been portrayed on The Simpsons at least once (except Barack Obama, but his wife made an appearance).

He was referenced, albeit accidentally, in "Two Bad Neighbors". In an attempt to lure Bush out of his house for a prank, Homer uses cardboard cut-outs of two men in suits on the porch that he calls "your sons, George Bush Jr and Jeb Bush!" According to Word of God, they didn't actually know about George W. at the time, and said that "George Bush Jr." was an example of Homer being Homer.

Homer is shown in a family photo album having a fistfight with George the Younger in the Oval Office, right after a photo of his brawl with George the Elder.

He was frequently referenced, however. At one point Homer referred to him as "Captain Kookoobananas."

Family Guy portrays him in an extremely negative light, with cutaways showing him as an idiot or a coward (trying to enlist for The Vietnam War years after it ended, hiding in a treehouse to avoid dealing with Hurricane Katrina). The harshest example would be the Season 10 episode "Back to the Pilot", where Brian prevents 9/11 by warning his 1999-era self, which results in a Post ApocalypticAlternate Universe where Bush lost the 2004 election, lead the South in forming a new Confederacy, and started a nuclear war with the US.

Ironically, the closest thing to a neutral portrayal was his first, where Peter works for a tobacco company and wines and dines Bush and Gore to loosen restrictions on cigarette sales. In the DVD commentary, the writers remark that they only included him out of fairness and thought he had "no fucking way" of actually winning.

Appears in the episode "Bush Comes to Dinner", where Stan wins a contest to have dinner with him. Hayley tries to destroy Bush's reputation by getting him Off the Wagon, but when he comes to her defense after Stan calls her a lost cause she changes her mind, remarking "At least he's better than Cheney." The portrayal is surprisingly sympathetic, having him be depressed over the fact that so many people hate him and wondering if he should just quit, before Stan's contest-winning speech gives him the heart to stay the course.

He also appears (after a fashion) in "Stan of Arabia" pulling a Big Damn Heroes and saving the Smiths from being stoned, but it turned out to be All Just a Dream, as well as the pilot where God calls him and tells him to quit mentioning his name in his speeches (followed by answering a call from Cheney with "Yes, sir?").

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